Details

Related name

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [Browse]

Series

• ICPSR (Series) ; 3974. [More in this series]
• ICPSR 3974

Restrictions note

Use of these data are restricted to Princeton University students, faculty, and staff for non-commercial statistical analysis and research purposes only.

Summary note

This research project explored when governments call elections and how the timing of elections influences the electoral result. In many parliamentary systems, the timing of the next election is at the discretion of the current government. Rather than waiting for the end of their term, leaders are free to call elections when it is advantageous to them and when they expect to win. This project was designed to use game theory to model how leaders decide whether to call elections based on their expectations about future performance. The data collected for this study reflect the timing of the British General Elections. In particular, this study addressed five research questions: (1) When are elections called? (2) What are the electoral implications of the timing of an election? (3) How are election timing and subsequent post-electoral economic performance related? (4) How does the election timing affect the length of the campaign? and (5) How does the London stock market respond to the announcement of elections? The data cover the time span from 1900 to 2001, although most of the files focus on the period from August 1, 1945, to June 13, 2001. Part 1 (Dates of Key Political Events Data) contains the dates of key political events, such as elections, first meetings of parliament, dissolutions, announcements of an election, by-elections, shifts in party allegiances, confidence votes, or changes in Prime Minister. Additional variables in Part 1 include whether there is a minority government or coalition government, percentage share of the vote by party type, number of seats by party type, and election turnout. Part 2 (By-Elections Data) includes the change in seats as a result of by-elections. Variables include the date of the by-election, electoral district, and change in seats by political parties. Part 3 (Change in Party Allegiance Data) contains information about the date... Cf.: http://webapp.icpsr.umich.edu/cocoon/ICPSR-STUDY/03974.xml

Notes

Title from ICPSR DDI metadata of 2004-10-30.

Type of data

10 data files + machine-readable documentation (PDF) + SAS data definition statements + SPSS data definition statements

Geographic coverage

Great Britain

Funding information

National Science Foundation and the Georg LeitnerProgram in International Political Economy at Yale University SES-9975352

System details

Mode of access: Intranet.

Methodology note

• Data source: Data for Parts 1-4 were compiled from David Butler and Gareth Butler, BRITISH POLITICAL FACTS, 1900-1994, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. Additional data for Parts 1-3 were obtained from the Nuffield college series THE BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION and the British Parliament's official Web site (http://www.parliament.uk). Additional data for Part 4 were gathered from Market & Opinion Research International, Ltd. covering the years from 1994 to 2001. Data for Parts 5 and 6 were collected from the Office of National Statistics via the University of Essex data archive (http://www.data-archive.ac.uk), the INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL STATISTICS CD-ROM from the International Monetary Fund, and from the Statstore Data Locator (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ datasets2.asp). Data for Part 7 were obtained from the International Labour Organization and the OECD's quarterly LABOUR FORCE STATISTICS. Data for Parts 8 and 9 were gathered from Global Financial Data (http://www.globalfindata.com), Datastream (http://www.datastream.com), and Dow Jones and Company, Inc. (http://dowjones.wsj.com/p/main.html). Data for Part 10 were collected from THE OFFICIAL INDEX TO THE TIMES, 1906-1980, which was available in electronic form from Historical Newspapers Online (http://historynews.chadwyck.com) and Lexis/Nexis (http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe).... Cf.: http://webapp.icpsr.umich.edu/cocoon/ICPSR-STUDY/03974.xml
• Universe: All parliamentary elections in Great Britain from 1900 to 2001.

Contents

Part 1: Dates of Key Political Events Data; Part 2: By-Elections Data; Part 3: Change in Party Allegiance Data; Part 4: Public Opinion Data; Part 5: Basic Economic Variables; Part 6: Monthly Inflation Data; Part 7: Unemployment Data; Part 8: Stock Market Data; Part 9: Financial Times 30 Share Index Data; Part 10: Newspaper Stories Data

Other format(s)

Also available as downloadable files.

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